ISLAMABAD, Aug 2: Pakistan said on Monday it had not sent any troops to Iraq and reaffirmed that under 'present circumstances' it would not send forces to that country where the situation was volatile and unstable.
Answering a volley of questions at his weekly press briefing, foreign office spokesman Masood Khan said President General Pervez Musharraf had already categorically stated that Pakistan was not sending troops to Iraq and that no commitment whatsoever had been made to contribute troops to a proposed multinational force for the war-torn country.
He urged the media to contemplate that for the last one year or so Pakistan had been pressed by the Americans and its coalition partners to contribute its forces. But, he pointed out, Islamabad had refrained from sending troops to Iraq. Pakistan had even opposed the war and invasion of Iraq without a UN resolution, he recalled.
About the possibility of joining a prospective UN protection force in Iraq, the spokesman said that the UN request, which followed a similar call from the US, had been under discussion for some time and maintained that Islamabad would consider the request after the UN mission had been sent to Baghdad.
He said that any UN protection force should have a distinct identity (separate from the US-led multinational force). At present, he added, any suggestion or claim about Pakistani troops in Iraq was 'a non-issue' because no commitment had been made about such a possibility.
Answering questions about the killing of two Pakistanis by their Iraqi captors last week, the spokesman said the government had made all possible efforts to secure their release. But, he added, most tragically the captors executed Sajjad Naeem and Raja Azad without even giving any time to Islamabad to recover them through available means.
He dismissed as false the killers' accusation that the unfortunate Pakistanis were spying for Americans. Efforts for recovery of the bodies were being made vigorously, he said.
About the evacuation of Pakistani workers from Iraq and Kuwait in the wake of the hostage taking, he said Islamabad had already offered to some 400 Pakistanis all travel facilities in case they wanted to return home. However, he added, not many of them had availed of the offer or heeded the advisory issued for them not to travel to Iraq.
Answering a question about the composite Indo-Pakistan dialogue being held under the joint statement issued after a Vajpayee-Musharraf meeting in January, Mr Masood Khan said that several rounds of talks at ministerial and official levels had taken place and the process continued as planned. He expressed the hope that the dialogue would prove to be meaningful and result-oriented.
He also made a statement about a briefing given by the foreign minister and the foreign secretary earlier in the day to the Azad Kashmir president and the prime minister and the Kashmiri leaders, including those belonging to the APHC, on the status of the ongoing dialogue between Islamabad and Delhi.
He held out the assurance that "Pakistan attaches great importance to a meaningful and result-oriented dialogue process". It was important that progress be made towards the final settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir issue, the statement said.
It said that the foreign minister and the secretary during their talks with their Indian counterparts had emphasized the need for associating the Kashmiris with the process and respect for their legitimate aspirations.
The Kashmiris should be the beneficiary of this process and in this context there was an urgent need for improvement in the human rights situation in the Indian-occupied Kashmir, the statement said.
The spokesman said that the Kashmiri leaders had appreciated the efforts of the Pakistan government for a just solution of the dispute as reflected in the UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir.